Poroshenko forced me to withdraw from OCU leadership race – Filaret

Head of the UOC-Kyiv Patriarchate Filaret. Photo: atlanticcouncil.org

On August 19, 2020, the head of the Kyiv Patriarchate Filaret Denisenko stated that former president Petro Poroshenko forced him to give up the post of head of the OCU. Filaret made a statement in an interview published on his Facebook page. His account was consistent with claims he had made publicly on earlier occasions about the circumstances surrounding his withdrawal.

Speaking about the election of the OCU head, Filaret said: “I agreed not to put forward my candidacy – but I was forced to do so. And who forced me? Poroshenko did. He made me sign a statement saying that I would not put forward my candidacy, although I had that right, just like all the other bishops.”

According to Filaret, the entire process took place “in violation of the statute.”

“Why was the statute violated, and by the president at that? In order to push me aside. He wanted Simeon, while I wanted Epifaniy. But there was an agreement between the president, Epifaniy and me that Epifaniy would be the primate and represent the Ukrainian Church externally, while the Kyiv Patriarchate would remain in place internally and Patriarch Filaret would lead it.”

Filaret explained that this agreement was the condition on which he agreed to withdraw his candidacy.

“That was the agreement under which I agreed not to put forward my candidacy – there was a condition, and that is why I was deceived. They told me that I would continue to lead the Kyiv Patriarchate, but that is not what happened.”

Filaret claimed that the entire “Bishops’ Council” had witnessed the agreement.

“It was not merely an agreement between Poroshenko, Epifaniy and me. There was also a Bishops’ Council, and everyone at the council supported this agreement.”

Filaret had made similar claims publicly in 2019, saying that he had agreed not to seek the primacy on the understanding that he would continue to oversee the Church internally while Epifaniy represented it externally. Representatives associated with Poroshenko and the OCU disputed aspects of Filaret’s account.

As the UOJ reported, earlier Constantinople Patriarch Bartholomew stated that the Kyiv Patriarchate never existed.

Read also